Goals Social equality, "A Communist Party Without Corruption", freedom of the press, freedom of speech, socialism, democracy
Methods Hunger strike, sit-in, occupation of public square
Result

Enforcement of martial law in certain areas of Beijing executed by force from 3 June 1989 (declared from 20 May 1989 – 10 January 1990, 7 months and 3 weeks)
Tens of deaths and hundreds of injuries of military and police personnel (in riots and accidents)
Protesters (mainly workers) and rioters barricading the PLA troops and nearby innocent civilians shot by some PLA troops (mainly 38th Army) on multiple sites in Beijing but outside of Tiananmen Square, hundreds killed, more wounded
Uncertain reports of few and isolated deaths of civilians near Tiananmen Square
Protesters (mainly students) peacefully withdrew from Tiananmen Square after negotiating with the PLA
Protest leaders and pro-democracy activists later exiled or imprisoned
Democracy Movement suppressed
Zhao Ziyang purged
Jiang Zemin promoted
Western economic sanctions and arms embargoes on the PRC
Market reforms delayed
Media control tightened
Political reform halted

The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, commonly known as the June Fourth Incident (六四事件) or more accurately '89 Democracy Movement (八九民运) in Chinese,[2] were student-led popular demonstrations in Beijing which took place in the spring of 1989 and received broad support from city residents, exposing deep splits within China's political leadership. The protests were forcibly suppressed by hardline leaders who ordered the military to enforce martial law in the country's capital.[3][4] The crackdown that initiated on June 3–4 became known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre or the June 4 Massacre as troops with assault rifles and tanks inflicted casualties on unarmed civilians trying to block the military's advance towards Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing, which student demonstrators had occupied for seven weeks. The scale of military mobilization and the resulting bloodshed were unprecedented in the history of Beijing, a city with a rich tradition of popular protests in the 20th century.[5]

The Chinese government condemned the protests as a "counter-revolutionary riot", and has prohibited all forms of discussion or remembrance of the events since.[6][7] Due to the lack of information from China, many aspects of the events remain unknown or unconfirmed. Estimates of the death toll range from a few hundred to the thousands.[8]

The protests were triggered in April 1989 by the death of former Communist Party General Secretary, Hu Yaobang, a liberal reformer, who was deposed after losing a power struggle with hardliners over the direction of political and economic reform.[9] University students marched and gathered in Tiananmen Square to mourn. Hu had also voiced grievances against inflation, limited career prospects, and corruption of the party elite.[10] The protesters called for government accountability, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the restoration of workers' control over industry.[11][12] At the height of the protests, about a million people assembled in the Square.[13]

The government initially took a conciliatory stance toward the protesters.[14] The student-led hunger strike galvanized support for the demonstrators around the country and the protests spread to 400 cities by mid-May.[15] Ultimately, China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and other party elders resolved to use force.[16] Party authorities declared martial law on May 20, and mobilized as many as 300,000 troops to Beijing.[15]

In the aftermath of the crackdown, the government conducted widespread arrests of protesters and their supporters, cracked down on other protests around China, expelled foreign journalists and strictly controlled coverage of the events in the domestic press. The police and internal security forces were strengthened. Officials deemed sympathetic to the protests were demoted or purged.[17] Zhao Ziyang was ousted in a party leadership reshuffle and replaced with Jiang Zemin. Political reforms were largely halted and economic reforms did not resume until Deng Xiaoping's 1992 southern tour.[18][19] The Chinese government was widely condemned internationally for the use of force against the protesters. Western governments imposed economic sanctions and arms embargoes.

There was a great piece about this on NPR today, apparently only about 15% of Chinese college students have seen that picture. The censorship in China relating to the event is so extreme that it's almost a forgotten moment in history for the Chinese. Kind of dark.

Man that was a crazy year(s). The Polish Solidarity elections happened on June 4th too that preceded the fall of the Eastern Bloc/Soviet Union. Hungary had begun dismantling their border fence with Austria in May, and of course the Berlin Wall coming down on Nov 9th.

I still hold out hope that one day the Chinese people will be free. And it's too bad that Russia seems to be sliding back to Soviet.

Man that was a crazy year(s). The Polish Solidarity elections happened on June 4th too that preceded the fall of the Eastern Bloc/Soviet Union. Hungary had begun dismantling their border fence with Austria in May, and of course the Berlin Wall coming down on Nov 9th.

I still hold out hope that one day the Chinese people will be free. And it's too bad that Russia seems to be sliding back to Soviet.

They pretty much are, the government in China these days is a giant paper tiger. I know a rebellious bloggers who wrote some politically extreme/inflammatory stuff about the government, and agents did indeed come to his home and ask him to stop. After his "defiance" against repeated warnings (I think 3 or 4) they did the worst thing possible - they made him disappear for however long, i think it was around 5 years.

Turns out this super scary Chinese prison was actually a government hotel, my understanding is, they keep you there indefinitely unless you agree to terms to stop blogging, etc. But those are just the guys who can't get on a VPN, people who get around the firewall have little to no worries of anyone knocking down their door.

Another story i heard from a local, where they were building rails just outside one of the major cities when a bunch of farmers came out in protest that they weren't getting enough compensation for the mandatory sale of their land for construction. Gov blacked out the national media but local media still covered it, and word spread that the protestors got paid additional compensation (though the amount was unknown). Central parties main concern is that the word doesn't spread that those farmers got extra compensation because then everyone would be asking for the better price.

Mostly though the government just pays people off to keep quite these days, their primary concern is taxation; now if you don't pay them, that's when you really get in trouble. They are definitely behaving more and more like uncle sam over there. In fact, in a lot of ways, the US is way more socialist than modern China. When i was there a few summers ago, it makes you think of the US in the gilded age. Extreme capitalism, that badly needs some form of legislation.

I'd love for ignorant idiots born in the warmth and security of the American flag like that to go to these impoverished areas - go face to face with a mother and tell her, listen, this life is a slaves life, don't you see? working 24/7 so your kids can go to school is not fair! Its terrible! What about your rights to free speech!?

Go out there, please, do some NGO work, don't just talk about it on a little youtube channel stationed in LA, go on the ground, see what its like when a creepy man goes up to a mother who has no way of feeding her starving daughter and says, give her to me, and i'll give you X amount of money and I promise you she'll eat much better than you could ever dream. The caveat of course is she'll be a stripper. No, really, i want you to imagine that's your sister. Now ****ing think about free speech, PLEASE DO.

I beg people to go out there and live a day in the shoes of these "slaves," these ignorant, uneducated idiots who obviously has no idea that the "system" is against them. Not like you wonderfully educated kids who got your degrees off a combination of your parents hardwork and uncle sam's generosity.

You think the hood is poverty? You think redneck country is poverty? Oh my god, those people are kings compared to whats out there in China and India. Yeah this horrible government with its in-humane economics thats brought hundreds of millions out of poverty, so they can eat and you know, not starve to death like the years before the 70's. No seriously go tell that father who has worked every day of his life so his kids can get a chance to study hard enough to MAYBE go to college, tell him its all worthless because he doesn't have freedom of press or any luxury spending power.

Really. ****ing first world problems man. You are in America, you won the ****ing lottery when you popped out of a vagina in the richest country and most blessed country in the world. Your parents fight for things like reproductive and same sex marriage rights, Chinese and Indian parents fight for things like a meal to eat, water, shoes. See the ****ing difference?

I hear reports that China's economy is rivaling the U.S. but looking at the GDP the U.S. GDP is twice China's (the number #2 country). The U.S. GDP is a little less than the European Unions. The U.S. and European Union together have a GDP about the same as the rest of the World combined.

But Obama can't be blamed, he's just a poor pawn that has such goodness in his heart and cares so much, especially the military, that he has to go along with the power machines that run the country. His thousands of rounds of golf suffer with concern and he stopped having fun after his 100th vacation trip around the world. Poor Obama.